With the establishment of a Career Centre, founded on 1 December 2018, the GFZ wants to offer its postdocs a central hub for career planning and development. The new team will offer individual career advice, potential analyses and advanced training, provide information and create networking opportunities. "We would like to open up the postdocs' view to the multitude and diversity of possible career paths within and outside academia“, says Annett Hüttges, head of the team. „We want to advise, inform, and establish personal contacts in order to resolve uncertainties and question marks.“ The center starts its work with an opening ceremony on 15 May.

Annett Hüttges and her two colleagues, Gohar Ter-Avetisyan and Anke Lerch, have set themselves the goal of supporting postdocs at realising their personal potential and professional goals. "During the postdoctoral phase, for example, many women leave the scientific system,“ says Gohar Ter-Avetisyan. „This is also an aspect where our work at the Career Centre has to set in. A good opportunity, for example, is to talk about this with GFZ alumni and get tips from them.“ Anke Lerch describes the plans for the next months: "We are preparing a survey of the GFZ postdocs in order to get to know their current situation, their training and consulting needs and their ideas in detail.“

The Career Centre is backed with more than 430,000 euros in funding from the Helmholtz Initiative and Networking Fund. The funding period is five years with an interim evaluation after three years. (ph)